This humble fish is a type of flatfish (not very pretty looking) that swim on their side with their eyes on their back. The most celebrated is the Dover sole that was only found in the coastal waters of England. Today, it is found in the Mediterranean and off the coasts of Norway. Check this…

In every tapas bar selection, you’ll find squid which are usually deep-fried. Quality squid is easy to tell. It smells like the ocean, never strong or fishy. It looks shiny and firm and the membrane covering the squid is gray, not purple or pink. Hard to imagine there’s a site with 160 recipes for squid!…

The serving of tapas is designed to encourage conversation because people are not so focused upon eating an entire meal that is set before them. Also, in some countries it is customary for diners to stand and move about while eating tapas. Another delicious item to add to the list of tapas! In Spain, these…

These simple but delicious tapas are easy to make. Manchego cheese is produced in La Mancha and is made only from the whole milk of Manchega sheep. Olives are the most extensively cultivated fruit crop in the world. Some of the top olive producing countries in the world are: Spain, Italy, Greece and Turkey. Serves…

In keeping with my last posting on tapas, below is the recipe for mussels. Mussels from the Atlantic coast of Spain grow to an enormous size within a very short time without becoming tough. Fresh mussels smell clean, like the ocean, and the shells of live mussels are tightly closed. If the mussel is slightly…

Tapas are finger food which originated in Spain. Dinner in Spain is usually served between 9pm and 11pm and therefore, Spaniards often go bar hopping and eat tapas in the time between finishing work and having dinner. The word tapa means lid or cover in Spanish. An item (be it bread or a flat card)…

Homemade pasta really sets the stage for a very good meal! Fresh pasta is very limited in Bangkok so when I’m in the mood for making my own, nothing tastes better. Ravioli is a type of filled pasta composed of a filling sealed between two layers of thin pasta dough. The filling may be meat-based…

The pork industry is undergoing an evolution in order to meet changing consumer palates. On average, the most common cuts of pork have 16 percent less total fat and 27 percent less saturated fat than they did nearly twenty years ago. In fact, pork tenderloin is now as lean as the leanest type of chicken…

I was in the bookstore the other day and spotted Martha Stewart’s book on cookies. Even though I have enough recipes on cookies, I flipped through the book and found this intriguing one on biscotti. No one in my house refuses chocolate and since I made cranberry and pistachio biscotti last Christmas, which every one…

Cooking in Rome has very old traditions and is based on simple and inexpensive ingredients. The poor Roman, living in cramped quarters, often ate in the streets, which later transformed into eating out while seated, and the great trattorias and osterias of Rome burgeoned. These were small family-run restaurants that served perfectly cooked, but simple…